No state help for shrinking school districts

Feb. 28, 2013

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School districts whose enrollment falls below 100 students will not have the option of taking less money from the state in order to continue operating independently.

The Senate Education Committee on Thursday rejected House Bill 1213, which was presented as an alternative to forced school consolidation in small towns.

“If you want to go out there and be the lone ranger, go ahead, but your people are going to have to come up with some money to fund the school,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Charlie Hoffman, R-Eureka.

But lawmakers and school groups favor the approach found in Senate Bill 96, which awaits the governor’s signature. It would protect school districts from forced consolidation as long as they enter a joint powers agreement with neighboring school districts to share resources.

Some were concerned the two bills would conflict with one another, inadvertently taking money away from small districts that were cooperating with their neighbors.

Scholarship money

Opportunity Scholarship recipients who graduate college early would get the full $5,000 award if they enroll in graduate school under a proposal headed for the Senate floor.

Only a few students are expected to benefit from House Bill 1198, but the state budget office opposed it because it would cost the state an estimated $6,000 per year; the state saves $2,000 whenever an Opportunity scholar graduates college in three years.

The Board of Regents supports the measure because it encourages both early college completion and graduate school enrollment.

Senate Education endorsed the bill 7-0 Thursday. It had passed the House 55-12.

Common core

The Senate Education Committee said Thursday that the state Board of Education, not the Legislature, should decide what K-12 students should know and be able to do.

Canton Republican Rep. Jim Bolin’s House Bill 1204 took aim at the Common Core Standards, which the Board of Education adopted in math and English language arts in 2010.

Bolin’s bill said that if additional Common Core Standards are written, the Legislature would have to give its consent before the state adopts them. The House passed his bill but the Senate panel rejected it on a 6-1 vote.

Bolin said legislators are directly accountable to voters, unlike the Board of Education, whose members are appointed by the governor. Sen. Bruce Rampelberg, R-Rapid City, said he feels “very unqualified” to make decisions about education standards.